get this...

It's just become sickly funny.

I had two more actors drop out of the show last night. Boom.

We have five rehearsals left.

The reasons why aren't important, although I understand why one of them needed to leave. The other, well he clearly wasn't invested in the show once he realized how small it was, so I halfway think he just took the first excuse he had. That sounds bitter, but it's not. Others in the cast had noticed it too, so I don't feel like I'm projecting.

Regardless, as of 6:20pm last night, I was down two actors. I was able to fill one role within ten minutes. I called Paul Jennings, who had originally turned down the role for schedule reasons that no longer apply at this stage in the game and he is on board and will be off book by his first rehearsal. This is good, since he only gets four rehearsals before we open.

The other actor was playing two roles. A bit harder to fill. The call has gone out, and the call appears to be spreading rapidly. The community is rallying for us, and I deeply appreciate it. My remaining cast has been in a bit of shock, but are pulling together regardless.

Various ideas have been floated of what to do if we can't get this last actor. One was to do a "concert version" of the show, which would work but is not my first option. Another idea was to turn one character, who isn't a person so much as a psychotic hallucination of a person, into a puppet. This will cost us some choreography, but it fits perfectly into the logic of the show and would be hilarious. I don't know if we'll do that, but I bought the puppet a few minutes ago so it will be here if we need it. That will make the casting a little more loose, since we don't need someone who can act, sing and dance. Just act and dance.

I should be completely freaked out by now, but I'm not. All I can do is what I am doing. The show will go on, one way or another.

The show always goes on, dammit.